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February 16, 2008

When Your Writing Career Goes Wrong

By Guest Blogger Elizabeth Becka

They say the path to true love does not run smooth.

Well, screw true love. I say the path to publication does not run smooth. Not in my case nor, I suspect, in anyone’s. I am not complaining. I’ve been lucky, and I’ve succeeded beyond any reasonable expectation, so I’m not complaining. But since you ask, this is how it went:

In January 2004 I got a two-book deal with Hyperion to publish Trace Evidence and a second book. The hardback was to be published in August 2005, and the paperback of Trace Evidence and the second hardback would be published in August 2006. Everything was peachy. I had already spent eight months in revisions on with my agent and then got a seven page, single-spaced letter with revisions from my editor. That was still okay. The only thing I felt unhappy about was having to rewrite my killer and give him a whole new backstory, because neither my agent nor my editor liked scenes from the killer’s point of view. I thought he was a lot more realistic and creepy in my original version, though perhaps not woven into the story as tightly.

Anyway, while I was doing that I was also writing the sequel. I assumed that the publisher would want something different, that perhaps America had had enough of serial killers killing beautiful young woman. Foolish mortal! Publishers like serial killers. Serial killers sell. And the book had problems as well, I’m not denying that. My complicated plot involved a child murder and an old high school rival of my heroine’s and for whatever reason it wasn’t working. I walked around with this bundle of worry at the pit of my stomach for a year.

The publisher agreed, and said it wouldn’t do. I would have to sit down and write another. At that point I was so bloody sick of the thing that I did not protest. I had been forming some ideas for the third book, which, coincidentally, involved a serial killer, so I simply moved number three up to number two and put the original number two on a shelf.

Unfortunately this delayed the whole production schedule, so that the book that should have come out in August 2006 would not appear until February 2008. The paperback of Trace Evidence was not produced until December 2007. I had the uncomfortable job of trying to keep myself in the public eye for a year and a half.

This whole thing soured Hyperion on me. They looked at my third book, Takeover (actually the fourth, but who’s counting?) and passed on it. My agent had seen this coming and warned me. This time it was not a problem with the book—which she loved—but the numbers from Trace Evidence. It had sold nearly half its print run, which I did not think was too shabby for a new author, but apparently it is because in shopping Takeover to publishers it was important to keep them from realizing that it was written by the same person who wrote Trace Evidence. I had to change my name and keep any identifying details out of my bio.

But the story has a happy ending. My agent sold Takeover in a two-book deal to William Morrow, so now I have a great publisher and a great editor.

And there’s a chance—just a tiny, fragile, puff of a chance—that the rejected second book could be picked up by a foreign publisher. Tastes vary…a lot. That foreign publisher didn’t want Takeover. And the publisher that loves Takeover didn’t want Trace Evidence. You just never know.

Unknown Means is about to be released. According to the reviews so far, it’s even better than Trace Evidence, and yet I’m constantly debating with myself how much work a lazy person like me wants to put in to promoting a name that will disappear after this book. Plus, I still have the day job. I work twelve-hour shifts, plus overtime. But then, of course, I realize that my troubles are not Unknown Mean’s fault and pledge to redouble my efforts and do the best I can by it…and try to keep my fan base during the transition from this persona to the next.

So I’m not complaining. I’m happy…delirious, actually.

But also exhausted.------------------------------------Elizabeth Becka is the author of TRACE EVIDENCE and UNKNOWN MEANS. Visit her website at www.ElizabethBecka.com.

12 Comments

Lisa, thanks for writing about your situation so honestly. I think you're a terrific writer and I look forward to anything and everything you will publish in the future, under any name. What's your new name going to be?

Elizabeth, your scary experiences really struck home. From that, other horror stories I've heard from fellow writers (whose work I like) and my own delays and stumbling blocks, I know this is not a unique experience. The publishing business is full of fickle people, each one with his own ideas, requirement, and lets face it - quirks and delays. I think the answer for a talented writer like you and a determined writer like me is perseverance, perseverance, perseverance. Congratulations on the contract with Morrow.
Best always,
Jackie Griffey
www.jackiegriffey.com (or just Google me to go wherever you want to quickly:-))

I bought Trace Evidence last month, and I've been recommending it to everyone I meet. I thought it was great. I'm looking forward to reading Unknown Means.

I'm in the situation where editors liked my first book, but not enough to pick it up. Most want to see the second, which my agent has right now--so fingers are crossed. So my second in the series might end up to be the first.

Thanks for sharing so honestly, Lisa. There doesn't seem to be any way for even the most talented and persistent writer to avoid all the pitfalls and Catch-22s that go with being an author nowadays. Thank goodness (and the Internet and groups like SinC and MWA) we have each other to help us remember that these bad breaks don't mean we're bad writers or bad people. In one form or another, they happen to all of us. Liz

Thanks, Lisa, for the frank discussion of your saga. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd been wondering what was going on. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading Unknown Means and spending time again with Evelyn.

Elizabeth, you know who's the villain in this story? Your editor at the first publishing house. Where was s/he when you were gathering your ideas for the second book? Part of an editor's job is helping to steer an author in a direction that everyone agrees is an actual career path--not stumbling around in the dark. Some early guidance would have prevented all this from happening. Except it would also have prevented your happy ending with Morrow. Good for you for landing on your feet!

Elizabeth, your story confirms what I've learned along the way. It's best over the long term to promote our author brand (i.e. humorous mystery, spine-tingling suspense, or whatever) rather than an individual book title. Our name and genre might change, but we can still extol our readers to buy our books for the same exciting reading experience they've come to expect.

Not an uncommon story, unfortunately. I'm in a similar situation, though currently with a less happy ending. I've been hearing stories for years by authors saying it takes 5 or 6 books before the reading public catches on, that publishers know this.

They don't.

If your books don't take off on the first or second shot, you may not get a third.

It is a struggle, always, and one you can't take personally. I think books are a business and it's an entertainment business, and--just like TV and movies--they make more from one big hit than from a stable of small ones, so that's where all the money and attention goes. That's why Hollywood pours money and attention into a new pilot, to cancel it after three episodes. Sometimes that's deserved, and sometimes they just didn't give it a chance to build an audience.

Those are very good points, Nancy and Nancy. And Rhonda, I have to admit it wasn't my editor's fault. I have a bad habit of writing my books without telling anyone (even my agent) what I'm doing until it's finished, a habit I really should get out of. Plus, my agent and I worked for so long to get Trace Evidence ready to pitch, that the second was pretty much written before I even had an editor.

Live and learn!

And please keep this among us writers, or I might find myself in hot water with the very people who are salvaging my career!